Garden Fuss

As we get closer to our last frost date somewhere around and hopefully after May 21st, I thought I would get a jump on some annual herbs and summer squash by winter sowing. Don't think it's too late to start your plants using this method. Save some pain in your back and legs and your wallet by letting Mother Nature do the work for you. I am always amazed to see the plants emerge in their white, clear, and even green plastic bottles and clam shells. I thought for sure I was going to lose the tomatoes and peppers with such a cold spring, but they are up and starting to take off. In a couple weeks we should be enjoying some warmer weather and I will be venting and thinning back seedlings so check back for more pictures of our winter sowing adventures.

I can't tell you enough about how excited I am with this Winter Sowing ! As you can see from the pictures below the seeds are germinating like crazy in their recycled plastic containers and I couldn't be more pleased. What I notice most about this process of starting plants from seeds is the strength of the seedlings themselves. They are stout sturdy little buggers! Just as a little science/botany project I started some of the same seeds in our aquarium system. The aquarium plants are much longer and thinner than the seedlings started outside the "natural" way by Winter Sowing. I highly recommend this method of gardening for everyone. Not only will it put to use some of those annoying plastic containers we all struggle with getting rid of. It gives us a way to more easily start the process of gardening.  The pictures below if you can't read the labels are: Sweet William, Cosmos, and Sugar Daddy Peas. Here is how it all started a month ago.